The Statistician – it’s a numbers game…NOT!

I’ll be honest with you. I hate stats. They bore me and I don’t find them that helpful. Stats are just a representation of the game…not the game itself and provide no real benefit. At least this is my opinion.

Statistics are playing a bigger part in sport today. Commentators love them too. I cringe every time I see a commentator make a comment and then use a stat to back up his claim. Very often stats are misleading, not telling the full story. I hate them and I wish commentators would use their brains more and talk about more exciting things.

Golfers that are obsessed with statistics should be banned from the game. They are slow, tedious and often boring to play with. People don’t care that you hit 56.678% of back nine fairways on Saturday afternoons during summer. Really…they don’t.

The Statistician likes to hide behind his stats. When he makes a mistake or hits a bad shot he takes pleasure in telling you all about it…that somehow, because he now has a record of it that he will be able to fix it.

But this is rubbish! Knowledge is only the first step. You have to know the how as well. The golf world is full of people that know why they slice the ball or their chances of doing so…but very few have the skill to actually improve.

Statisticians play with a straight jacket on…they seem too scared to do anything out of the ordinary…they wouldn’t want to stuff up a flow chart or ruin an average would they?

Playing great golf can be a lot like playing on a knife’s edge. You are close to disaster at any moment…but unless you put yourself in that position you’ll NEVER experience the real highs that are possible.

Statisticians are too careful…they never get out of second gear. If you want to experience real golf then forget about your stats for a round or two and play golf. Don’t worry about fairways, greens or putts. Play golf. Hit the ball like you mean it. Just maybe you might start having real fun! And just maybe shoot a really good score.